Leaked US cables won’t harm anybody, says Assange

LONDON - The founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks insisted Friday in an online forum that no harm would come to anyone as a result of the ongoing public dump of a trove of previously confidential US diplomatic cables.

Responding to questions asked by readers of the Guardian, Julian Assange said he was unaware of “even a single person” that has been harmed because of revelations found on the website so far.

Rights groups and governments have warned that some people implicated in espionage or other acts that require secrecy might face dangers from the revelation of their names.

The British newspaper was hosting Assange as part of a live question-and-answer segment on its blog.

The WikiLeaks founder also remained adamant in not revealing his sources, saying only that those who leaked deserved praise.

“If indeed it is the case, as alleged by the Pentagon, that the young soldier — Bradley Manning — is behind some of our recent disclosures, then he is without doubt an unparalleled hero,” said Assange.

Manning is currently under arrest on charges of leaking the embassy documents now being released, along with earlier troves this year on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Noting that more cables would be released, Assange also gave a clue as to what might be contained in them.

“It is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive, there are indeed references to UFOs,” said the Australian national, who is currently evading law enforcement agents.

The Australian citizen accused his government of “actively working to assist the US government in its attacks on myself and our people”. He suggested Australian officials might want to be “invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties”.